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Up to date information

When you use NBS Scheduler, the software will let you know if you are using the most up to date information. If updated material is available, it will prompt you to download it.

A library of Constructions and Work items

NBS Scheduler contains a library of Constructions which are priceable components of the system (e.g. Plain clay tile double pitch warm roof covering). You build up your schedule of works by selecting constructions that are relevant to your project. Each construction is linked to a corresponding group of Work items. These contain work to be carried out by a single trade (e.g. plain clay roof tiling). You then select and edit the work items that you need for your project.

Refurbishment, Alteration or New-build?

All work items and constructions have been given a status as being particularly appropriate for use in refurbishment, alteration or new build projects. You can filter your search to reduce the amount of content on view and speed up your selection.

Guidance

General guidance is offered with information on materials and design, including workmanship advice and tips on how to avoid pitfalls is provided for each work section. Extensive technical guidance is also provided to help you complete individual work items.

Guidance provides access to technical information resources including websites and The Construction Information Service*.

Building product information

NBS Scheduler contains building product information called NBS Plus. The manufacturers’ information has been written specifically for NBS and is checked for currency at each update. It also offers access to ribaproductselector.com, with links to the websites of thousands of building product suppliers.

Printing and issuing

NBS Scheduler offers flexible printing and exporting options for publishing documents in hard copy or electronic format.

Trades reports

To facilitate contract sub-tendering, you can produce trade reports with a simple click. The software reads your schedule of works and sorts the work into the different trades.

* The Construction Information Service is a searchable database of full text documents from publishers such as BRE and BSI. It is available as an online subscription service from IHS, telephone 01344 404434, email marketing@ihsti.com or visit www.ihsti.com.

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NBS Scheduler is a subscription service. As part of the subscription you will receive updates on CD Rom three times a year. Additional updates can be downloaded from the NBS website when available.

For small scale new build and refurbishment works.  Enabling the production of Schedules of Work, which may be structured by location, cost element or trade rather than by Common Arrangement. The content of the NBS Scheduler library is derived from NBS work sections.

The scope and contents of NBS Scheduler is listed below:

Current at March 2008 (NBS Scheduler Update 2008-1)

Preliminaries/general conditions within NBS Scheduler

Main Contract Preliminaries/ General conditions
	The project generally
	JCT 1998 Intermediate Forms and variants
	JCT 1998 Agreement for Minor Works
	JCT 1998 Agreement for Housing Grant Works HG(A)
	JCT 1998 Measured Term Contract
	JCT 2006 Measured Term Contract
	JCT 2005 Intermediate Building Contract
	JCT 2005 Intermediate Building Contract with Contractor’s Design
	JCT 2005 Minor Works Building Contract
	JCT 2005 Minor Works Building Contract with Contractor’s Design
	SBCC Housing Grant Agreement
	SBCC Minor Works Contract
	SBCC Measured Term Contract
	SBCC 2005 Minor Works Building Contract
	SBCC 2005 Minor Works Building Contract with Contractor’s Design
	GC Works/2 and 4 Contract
	GC/Works/7 Measured Term Contract
	Engineering and Construction Short Contract (ECSC)
	ICE Minor Works
	Tendering/ Subletting/ Supply
	Provision, content and use of documents
	Management of the Works
	Quality standards/ control
	Security/ Safety/ Protection
	Specific limitations on method/ sequence/ timing
	Facilities/ Temporary work/ Services
	Operation/ Maintenance of the finished building
	Contractor’s general cost items
	Work by others or subject to instruction
	Dayworks
	General technical requirements
Subcontract Preliminaries/ General conditions
	Preliminaries for JCT named subcontract NAM/SC and T
Work sections
Demolition/ Alteration/ Renovation
C20	Demolition
C40	Cleaning masonry and concrete
C45	Damp proof course renewal and insertion
C46	Cavity wall tie renewal and insertion
C52	Fungus and beetle eradication
Groundwork
D20	Excavating and filling
D50	Underpinning
In situ concrete/ Large precast concrete
E10	In situ concrete
E20	Formwork for in situ concrete
E30	Reinforcement for in situ concrete
E60	Precast concrete floors and roof deck
Masonry
F10	Brick and block walling
F11	Glass block walling
F20	Natural stone rubble walling
F21	Natural stone ashlar walling and dressings
F22	Cast stone ashlar walling and dressings
F30	Accessories and sundry items for brick, block and stone walling
F31	Purpose made precast concrete sills, lintels, copings and features
Structural/ Carcassing metal/ timber
G10	Structural steel framing
G12	Isolated structural metal members
G20	Metal fixings for carpentry first fix
G30	Metal profiled sheet decking
Cladding/ Covering
H10	Patent glazing
H20	Rigid sheet cladding
H21	Timber weatherboarding
H22	Plastics weatherboarding
H30	Fibre cement profiled sheet cladding and covering
H31	Metal profiled sheet cladding and covering
H32	Plastics profiled sheet cladding and covering
H43	Metal composite panel cladding and covering
H60	Plain roof tiling
H61	Fibre cement slating
H62	Natural slating
H65	Single lap roof tiling
H71A	Lead sheet roofing
H71B	Lead sheet flashings and weatherings
H72	Aluminium strip or sheet coverings and flashings
H73	Copper strip or sheet coverings and flashings
H74	Zinc strip or sheet coverings and flashings
H75	Stainless steel strip or sheet coverings and flashings
Waterproofing
J21	Mastic asphalt roofing and finishes
J30	Liquid applied tanking and damp-proofing
J31	Liquid applied waterproof roof coatings
J40	Flexible sheet tanking and damp-proofing
J41	Reinforced bitumen membrane roof coverings
J42	Single layer polymeric sheet roof coverings
J44	Sheet linings for small pools and ponds
Linings/ Sheathing/ Dry partitioning
K10	Plasterboard dry linings for walls, partitions and ceilings
K11	Alterations to rigid sheet surfaces
K20	Timber board flooring, decking, sarking, linings and casings
K21	Wood strip or board fine flooring or linings
K30	Panel partitions
K32	Panel cubicles
K40	Demountable suspended ceilings
K41	Raised access floors
Windows/ Doors/ Stairs
L10	Windows, rooflights, screens and louvres
L20	Doors, shutters and hatches
L30	Stairs, walkways and balustrades
L40	General glazing
Surface finishes
M10	Cement based levelling and wearing screeds
M12	Resin flooring
M13	Calcium sulfate based screeds
M20A	Plastered coatings
M20B	Rendered and roughcast coatings
M21	Insulation with rendered finish
M40	Stone, quarry, ceramic and mosaictiling
M42	Wood block, composition block and mosaic parquet flooring
M50	Rubber, plastics, cork, lino and carpet tiling and sheeting
M52	Decorative papers and fabrics
M60	Painting and clear finishing
M61	Intumescent coatings for fire protection of steelwork
Furniture/ Equipment
N10	General fixtures furnishings and equipment
N11	Domestic kitchen fittings, furnishing and equipment
N13	Sanitary appliances and fittings
N15	Signs and notices
N25	Permanent access and safety equipment
Building fabric sundries
P10	Sundry insulation and proofing work
P11	Injected cavity wall insulation
P12	Fire stopping systems (new section)
P20	Unframed isolated trims, skirtings and sundry items
P21	Door and window ironmongery
P30	Trenches, pipeways and pits for buried engineering services
P31	Holes, chases, covers and supports for services
Paving/ Planting/ Fencing/ Site furniture
Q10	Kerbs, edgings, channels and paving accessories
Q20	Granular sub-bases to pavings
Q22	Coated macadam pavings
Q23	Gravel, hoggin and woodchip roads and pavings
Q24	Interlocking brick or block roads and pavings
Q25	Slab, brick, sett or cobble pavings
Q28	Topsoiling
Q30	Seeding and turfing
Q31	External planting
Q40	Fencing
Q50	Site and street furniture and equipment
Disposal systems
R10	Rainwater drainage systems
R11	Above ground foul drainage systems
R12	Below ground drainage systems
R13	Land drainage
R16	Groundwater pressure relief drainage systems
R17	Soakaway, septic tank and sewage treatment systems
Piped supply systems
S15	Fountains and water features
S90	Hot and cold water supply systems
Mechanical heating/ Cooling/ Refrigeration systems
T90	Heating systems
Ventilation/ Air conditioning systems
U90	General domestic ventilation
Electrical supply/ power/ lighting systems
V90	Electrical systems - domestic
Communications/ Security/ Control systems
W40	Access control systems - domestic
W41	Intrusion and hold-up alarm systems
W44	Closed circuit television systems
W50	Fire detection and alarm systems
Transport systems
X90	Lift systems
Building fabric reference specification
Z10*	Purpose made joinery
Z11*	Purpose made metalwork
Z12*	Preservative and fire retardant treatments for timber
Z20*	Fixings and adhesives
Z21*	Mortars
Z22*	Sealants

*'Z' sections occur only in the Reference Specification and do not contain work items.

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NBS Software Licensing

NBS software can be licensed for use on standalone PCs, or for use on a network. When running on a standalone PC the software will be licence locked for use only on that machine.

For network installations, the software will be licence locked to the server PC. Other PCs on the network may access the licence on the server for concurrent use, up to the number of licences subscribed to.

System requirements

NBS software requires the following components in order to run:

1. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 (IE6)
2. Microsoft .NET framework

Both are supplied on the software CD. All products require a CD-ROM drive for initial installation of the software.

In addition the software will run on the following platforms:

1. Windows 2000 (SP4)
2. Windows XP Professional (SP2)
3. Windows XP Home (SP2)
4. Windows 2000 Server and above (for Server PCs)
5. Windows Vista (All Editions) 32-bit and 64-bit

Full instructions for installation are contained in the Getting Started Guide and help files provided in the software. Our software support team also provide assistance, and you can contact them on 0845 456 9594 (+44 191 232 9594 from outside the UK) and at support@theNBS.com.
Please note that the speed of running any software application depends upon several factors. The following specification is an approximate guide only.

Recommended minimum requirements for all NBS software:

1. Processor: Pentium III 750 MHz.
2. Memory: 256 MB.
3. Free disk space: 60 - 200 MB.
4. Screen resolution: 1024 x 768 in 16 bit colour.

Microsoft Windows Vista

On 30th January 2007 Microsoft formally launched  Windows Vista, to supersede Windows XP.

Windows Vista is available in five different editions, each in both 32bit and 64bit versions:

1. Windows Vista Ultimate
2. Windows Vista Home Premium
3. Windows Vista Home Basic
4. Windows Vista Business
5. Windows Vista Enterprise

If you are considering the operating system, NBS can confirm that we continue to develop the product range in order to be compatible with Windows Vista.

For the latest information please see NBS software Vista compatibility

Apple Macintosh

We have successfully tested our products on Apple Macintosh computers with Windows emulation software (see specification below). We cannot guarantee, however, that customers' experiences will be the same in all instances.

1. Mac G4, 867 MHz, 640 MB RAM
2. Mac OS X 10.2.8
3. Virtual PC 6.1 & 7.1
4. Windows 2000 SP4 / Windows XP Service Pack 1 (256 Mb allocated to PC) + VPC additions
5. 1024*768 HiColour

We have recently tested the compatibility of NBS software with Apple Boot Camp. The specification of the machine tested on is as follows:

1. iMac 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo
2. 17-inch widescreen LCD with 1440x900 resolution
3. 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo with 2MB shared L2 cache
4. 512MB (single SO-DIMM) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
5. 160GB Serial ATA hard drive
6. Slot-load 8x double-layer SuperDrive
7. ATI Radeon X1600 graphics with 128MB GDDR3 memory
8. Built-in AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0

Please Note: In order to run NBS software using Apple Boot Camp users will require a bona fide installation disc for Microsoft Windows XP, Service Pack 2, Home or Professional (no multi-disc, upgrade or Media Centre versions).

NBS have tested the Specification Family portfolio software (NBS Building, NBS Landscape, NBS Engineering Services), NBS Contract Administrator and NBS Scheduler successfully for standalone and network installations and the platform appears to be very stable.

Although the software has been successfully tested on this platform we cannot guarantee that the software will react the same with another specification Mac. Therefore, we cannot guarantee performance of our software when using Windows on a Mac. Support will be limited for any customers using our software on Mac as we will not be able to determine that the encountered problems are due to our software or the system used.

Windows 95, 98, 98SE, ME and NT4

Microsoft has retired support for:

1. Windows 95
2. Windows 98
3. Windows 98SE
4. Windows ME
5. Windows NT4

Microsoft state that these operating systems are outdated and can expose customers to security risks. NBS recommend that customers who are still running the above upgrade to a newer, more secure Microsoft operating system, such as Windows XP (SP2), as soon as possible.

Microsoft has announced that the above operating systems will no longer be supported. Whilst the current versions of the NBS product range will continue to run on these operating systems (except Windows 95 and 98), NBS will no longer support the development of future versions of the product range on these operating systems.

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